The sixth annual week-long Home Theater Cruise, which took place this year in the Caribbean, unites home theater enthusiasts, manufacturers and technology experts for debate, discussion and fun. This year, the cruise’s farewell party and live auction benefited the Elf Foundation, a non-profit charity that “brings the magic of music and film to sick children,” to the delightful tune of more than $75,000. The contributors included Runco International, Yamaha Electronics, Stewart Filmscreen, Monster Cable, Primare, Triad, Microsoft, Sencore, Equi-Tech, Imaging Science Foundation, Design Cinema Privee, VizionWare, Datacolor, Niles Audio, and Anchor’s Away Cruise Center. Included among the auction items were an evening with jazz vocalist Nicole

Distributor ADI said it will host a 20-city, 60-day High-Definition Video Training Series. The tour, conducted by the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), will begin April 23. The sponsors of the tour are BenQ, Datacolor, Draper, DVDO, Honeywell, Pioneer Industrial and Spectrum Electronics. Attendees will receive promotional discounts from participating manufacturers and a copy of the ISF Calibration Wizard. ISF technicians will demonstrate display optimization, and color and contrast adjustment for home environments, and show how to use the ISF HDTV Calibration Wizard, Datacolor SpyderTV PRO 2007 tool and color science instruments. “We are proud to provide this comprehensive training to our installer base to

The Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), which trains and certifies installers and licenses manufacturers worldwide on professional video calibration, claimed last week that “the quest for superior HDTV picture quality has a fringe benefit: 30 to 50 percent energy savings.” ISF previously reckoned that figure to be only five to 10 percent. However, by working with energy efficiency consultants ECOS Consulting through a research grant from the California Energy Commission, ISF has been deploying “lab-grade power consumption instrumentation to research how HDTV settings impact energy consumption.” Its findings include the following: • “A well-designed Sony LCD used for ISF’s Microsoft Media Center certification program had 100 percent superior

Mounts: K2 Mounts X-Arm This fully motorized mount for large flat panels brings the category into the home control ecosystem. www.k2mounts.com Peerless One Mount It doesn’t get much simpler than this incredibly versatile mount, which can handle flat panels as small as 23 inches and as large as 84 inches. www.peerlessmounts.com OmniMount WorldMount 4N1-M and EAR-S The 4N1-M provides medium-sized flat panels with smooth tilt, pan and swivel adjustments; the EAR-S mounts flat panel speakers flush to a screen, so sound follows if the screen pivots. www.omnimount.com Chief CM1-W18 This product, designed for flat panels up to 61 inches, provides three programmable pre-set